Sprayers, such as spray guns for the dusting or fogging of paint in the coating of motor vehicle bodies or other production items, must be periodically cleaned, especially in the areas of paint nozzles and any air nozzles present. That is, they must be freed of any self-coating due to paint mist and drops of paint. From German Patent No. 2,854,325, it is known that the sprayer head of a paint spray gun can be freed of adhering spray material, such as paint or lacquer, after a predetermined operating time, by placing it into the opening of a receptacle cup and charging it with cleaning fluid sprayed from a stationary nozzle located in the center of the base of the cup. Inserting the sprayer head into the cup produces an airtight seal of the inner chamber of the latter. The mixture of cleaning fluid and paint residue collected inside the cup is suctioned off through a line. By spraying and flushing the exterior of the sprayer head inside a cleaning container effectively isolated from the outside, problems of environmental pollution by cleaning fluid and paint residue can be avoided.